One of my favourite summer salads is panzanella, with crusty bread to mop up all the amazing tomato and basil dressing.

To make panzanella I would usually buy a $5 or $6 loaf of foccacia (for a recipe calling for stale bread), tear it into pieces, bake it on low to dry it out (with my oven, using electricity I pay for), then add it into a famously rustic salad.

At 10pm last night I was staring at the last three pieces of stale bread in the bag, when an idea formed...

Honestly, just when I think I have economised every area of my life something like this happens to remind me that I'm a world-class moron and this is why every single habit needs to be re-examined.

So I took the bread out of the bag, left it out for a couple of hours to dry out, then put it in the freezer to be recycled into panzanella.

(At least I always use up my soft tomatoes in panzanella. If I need to supplement I buy the 'odd bunch' slightly less attractive tomatoes.)

Made a big batch of cabbage rice and bean... soup? slop? It's somewhat Newtonian and neither a liquid nor a solid, but damn if it isn't filling and cheap. ;)It will be my lunch for the entire week.

If its tasty, do you have a recipe? Ive had bean and carrot stew/mush for work for a few weeks and would love to branch out to other fine slop-based cuisines.

Sure! My methodology/recipie is about as loosey goosey as it gets, but here's what I do:

Sautee a small onion (or however much onion as you want) in oil for 5-10 minutes in a large potThen add a crap ton of very finely chopped cabbage (8 cups is your goal, but your pot size dictates this more than anything else)Cook this with one cup of broth for 10+ minutes (broth of your choice; I use veggie)Add an additional 3 cups of broth and 1 cup of arborio rice and cook for another 15 minutes (or until the rice is about done)Then add a can of red kidney beans (or a not can if you've got a pressure cooker on hand, but kidney beans are one of the ones I worry about so I skip that and pay for the water and packaging) and cook 5 minutes...

and then you're done!You have your very own cheap, filling, and newtonian mush. :)

Saw cloth napkins in a fabric I really like (dark florals on a burgundy background), 35$ for 4 napkins. Went to the fabric store, found a similar fabric, bought 2m (enough for 8 napkins - we use 6 on a regular basis) for 7.50$, and spent an hour sewing them up. Savings: 62.50$.

I find value in having a 'pretty' dinner table - I find it makes dinner feel more special and makes us want to go out less.

Saw cloth napkins in a fabric I really like (dark florals on a burgundy background), 35$ for 4 napkins. Went to the fabric store, found a similar fabric, bought 2m (enough for 8 napkins - we use 6 on a regular basis) for 7.50$, and spent an hour sewing them up. Savings: 62.50$.

I find value in having a 'pretty' dinner table - I find it makes dinner feel more special and makes us want to go out less.

That's awesome. I bought a bunch of beautiful (and very cheap) cloth napkins in Sri Lanka a few years ago with the intention of using them as our everyday napkins, but then I got lazy and put them away. I'm going to dig them up tonight.

I signed up for their loyalty program in store but hadn't linked it with my online account. I just persisted in doing that (I have a vague memory of trying it once before and it seeming like more trouble than it was worth).

It was definitely worth it, I had enough reward points to save $25 off my order, plus free shipping.

A few days ago I mentioned skipping grocery shopping and using up things I had. Yesterday I turned 1/2 a chicken breast (the last meat in the house) 2 past prime carrots, 3 huge onions and a couple spears of frozen brocolli into curry. It is so delicious. I'm eating it over the last of my rice. It should last through the weekend.

This evening I am making pumpkin custard topped with pecans. I'm using a bent discount can of pumpkin & the last cup of milk. I only have about 1/4 cup of sugar left, so I'll rely on honey and molasses to sweeten it, those are better options anyway. It will also warm the apartment while baking.

I've been badassng my way through some cold nights. I turned the heat on this morning for a few minutes while I was getting ready for the day, but layers and hot tea have been pretty effective.

Salt isn't expensive but it seems silly to buy a canister of table salt when I have a jar full of sea salt, so I am making it work. I don't have a mill, but I cleaned up my coffee grinder and reduced the size a bit.

I've been handwashing laundry to put off trips to the laundromat. It's not that bad.

I'm determined to get my moneys worth out of my fancy pants liberal arts college. I'm not all into "#collegelife" but music, art shows, lectures, workshops, entertainment? I am there. Free food has been pretty scarce but I am getting good at packing! I recently did a couple surverys to get entered in a bookstore giftcard drawing.... crossing my fingers.

I reveled in the luxury of a hot washcloth to wash my face. I figure if I can feel pampered during my daily routine with a simple facecloth, why would I need to be pampered with a $$pedicure$$? (I also find a hot shower to feel extraordinarily luxurious!)

Took my lunch to work today, ate leftovers for supper, resisted the urge to buy a chocolate bar at the grocery store (where we were picking up multiples of the loss leader, of course!), and instead ate some of ds halloween candy lol. Now going downstairs to watch a library DVD!

A couple of years ago, I'd switched from overpriced, fancypants-brand body moisturizer to pharmacy-level bargain-brand body moisturizer. (Doesn't smell as fun, but actually works better.) Comes in one of those big plastic pump bottles.

Today the pump stopped pumping, suggesting that the bottle was empty, but you could tell from the weight of it that there was definitely still product inside. I cut the bottle in half and scooped the leftover moisturizer into a (marked) ramekin, and holy frijole: out of a 20-oz bottle, there was a full 3 oz of product remaining. 15% of the bottle was completely inaccessible to the average customer. I've now got weeks more product to use.

DIY squat rack! Well, not a rack per se, but a stand. This rounds out our current home gym projects- we can do all the olympic lifts now in our garage! So two aspects of money savings- 1, we didn't buy a pre-made squat rack ($$$), and 2- we're not paying for gym memberships (which then also saves gas, as we're not walking distance to a gym).

DIY squat rack! Well, not a rack per se, but a stand. This rounds out our current home gym projects- we can do all the olympic lifts now in our garage! So two aspects of money savings- 1, we didn't buy a pre-made squat rack ($$$), and 2- we're not paying for gym memberships (which then also saves gas, as we're not walking distance to a gym).

Looks like my water heater crapped out 2 weeks ago when I was staying with a friend. Turned power off to it when I wasn't going to be home. Got back and turned on power and now it's not working at all. I've been taking cold showers until I have enough time next week to call a plumber. I found the showers aren't too bad. But I do have a gym and showers at work so half the time I shower there.

My power bill is going to be even lower than low this month.

I'm thinking since I live alone I can get by with cold showers sometimes so why not just turn on water heater when running the dishwasher or clothes washer or when I want to take a hot shower? Is that bad for the water heater to turn on and off like that?

A couple of years ago, I'd switched from overpriced, fancypants-brand body moisturizer to pharmacy-level bargain-brand body moisturizer. (Doesn't smell as fun, but actually works better.) Comes in one of those big plastic pump bottles.

Today the pump stopped pumping, suggesting that the bottle was empty, but you could tell from the weight of it that there was definitely still product inside. I cut the bottle in half and scooped the leftover moisturizer into a (marked) ramekin, and holy frijole: out of a 20-oz bottle, there was a full 3 oz of product remaining. 15% of the bottle was completely inaccessible to the average customer. I've now got weeks more product to use.

Welcome to the dissecting-the-moisturiser-bottle club, there are tens of us!

Had a craving for cookies, so I made a giant chocolate chip cookie. I didn't have chocolate chips, so I diced up part of a dark chocolate bar. I didn't have brown sugar, so I used a bit more vanilla and regular sugar.

Trimmed the poodles' feet/faces/sanitary areas. I have no idea how much I saved, as I've never taken them in for a professional grooming. Luckily they are really patient dogs, as I'm not very good at this yet. I am certain, however, that with this second trimming, I've definitely saved at least as much money as the mid-range trimmers cost.

I'm thinking since I live alone I can get by with cold showers sometimes so why not just turn on water heater when running the dishwasher or clothes washer or when I want to take a hot shower? Is that bad for the water heater to turn on and off like that?

-We were in London for 10 days and did the usual staying in an AirBnb, cooking, walking or taking the tube and doing many free things, but I came up with something that I thought was kind of cool.We went to visit Liberty's, a store known for it's textiles which I really was interested in seeing. They had one whole floor dedicated to materials for sewing all manner of things as well as various bolts for drapes and upholstery. I got them to give me an number of material samples of some very pretty patterns. Came home and a friend sewed them together into a mini-quilt. I thought it was a really nice "souvenir" if you will and didn't cost anything.

-I'd signed up for the Chase Sapphire card before we left and was able to make about 10% back on what I spent. I was pretty happy with that.

-I've been gleaning butternut squash, peppers and broccoli from the farm fields surrounding our land. Even after the fields are turned over, there's still a lot of stuff on the edges of the fields that don't get plowed under. I've been cooking and freezing the squash as it seems to keep very well and just using whatever else I find.

-Doing my usual ebay sales of things that I have or have been given and can't use. I found a bunch of small items that were stored in the rafters in our garage so I put those up. I've found that there's always someone to buy the items if you 're just patient.

-Keep using my Bing searches to earn rewards cards. This has been a really nice find for me.

We went to visit Liberty's, a store known for it's textiles which I really was interested in seeing. They had one whole floor dedicated to materials for sewing all manner of things as well as various bolts for drapes and upholstery. I got them to give me an number of material samples of some very pretty patterns. Came home and a friend sewed them together into a mini-quilt. I thought it was a really nice "souvenir" if you will and didn't cost anything.

That's awesome! and it will be a much more individual souvenir than Kate on a 10 pound mug ;)

DIY squat rack! Well, not a rack per se, but a stand. This rounds out our current home gym projects- we can do all the olympic lifts now in our garage! So two aspects of money savings- 1, we didn't buy a pre-made squat rack ($$$), and 2- we're not paying for gym memberships (which then also saves gas, as we're not walking distance to a gym).

Oh, more details please, I'd love to have a go at a DIY squat rack.

What we didn't isn't too fancy. We don't have enough space for a full squat stand, so we did a bucket system so that we can move them as needed.

You can do a stand, too, but it's a bit more materials intensive. All told, we spent like $36 on this. Biggest challenge was getting the boards to stay upright, because the base of our buckets weren't perfectly even. We ended up drilling a crossbrace at the top of the bucket, and for side to side wobble, I held while DH painstakingly shoveled in individual scoops to spread. Annoying, but damn if our stands are not perfectly level.

DIY squat rack! Well, not a rack per se, but a stand. This rounds out our current home gym projects- we can do all the olympic lifts now in our garage! So two aspects of money savings- 1, we didn't buy a pre-made squat rack ($$$), and 2- we're not paying for gym memberships (which then also saves gas, as we're not walking distance to a gym).

Very clever, I would never have thought of using wood - I've only ever seen steel squat racks. Love how the bench press section is integrated in there too.

DIY squat rack! Well, not a rack per se, but a stand. This rounds out our current home gym projects- we can do all the olympic lifts now in our garage! So two aspects of money savings- 1, we didn't buy a pre-made squat rack ($$$), and 2- we're not paying for gym memberships (which then also saves gas, as we're not walking distance to a gym).

Very clever, I would never have thought of using wood - I've only ever seen steel squat racks. Love how the bench press section is integrated in there too.

We did a very small version of that a few months back for stands for our bar to rack weight, and it has held up very well. (Deadlift stands, basically... or deadlift jacks. Not sure exactly what they'd be called). Since those have worked out so well, even for DH's stupidly heavy deadlift PRs, I figured the squat stands would be a safe bet =) And you really can't beat $36!

* the usual free work coffee and homemade lunch* also brought homemade frozen meal to put in work freezer for tomorrow* stocked desk drawer with free snacks that i saved from someone who was tossing them* put $100 into "holiday" envelope . . . to make things easier on my future self * hung laundry to dry this morning

A couple of years ago, I'd switched from overpriced, fancypants-brand body moisturizer to pharmacy-level bargain-brand body moisturizer. (Doesn't smell as fun, but actually works better.) Comes in one of those big plastic pump bottles.

Today the pump stopped pumping, suggesting that the bottle was empty, but you could tell from the weight of it that there was definitely still product inside. I cut the bottle in half and scooped the leftover moisturizer into a (marked) ramekin, and holy frijole: out of a 20-oz bottle, there was a full 3 oz of product remaining. 15% of the bottle was completely inaccessible to the average customer. I've now got weeks more product to use.

Welcome to the dissecting-the-moisturiser-bottle club, there are tens of us!

:D Thank you! I could kick my old self in the head for not doing that sooner.

Bracken_Joy, there's no other way to say this: Nice rack!

Today:* Did financial stuff for our small business, including putting money into our 401ks. Unsure as yet if we'll max them out this year, but we'll sure come damn close.* Made sure to take chicken and vegetables out of the freezer to thaw this morning, rather than forgetting until dinner time and ending up calling delivery.* Missed lunch (was involved in work), so quite hungry now. But fighting that urge to do takeout, too, and ate some celery with peanut butter instead.* Been using up random things before we move in a couple of months. Today I put an oatmeal soap meant for dry skin that's been sitting in a closet for probably a decade into rotation as kitchen hand soap.* Made $20 selling some old DVDs.

My friend offered me my pick of jewelry as a thank you offering, but that's not my thing. I did take about 400 Forever stamps, two fire extinguishers, some packing tape, two cans of Comet cleaner and an intriguing little book called Old-Time Pickling and Spicing Recipes.

My friend offered me my pick of jewelry as a thank you offering, but that's not my thing. I did take about 400 Forever stamps, two fire extinguishers, some packing tape, two cans of Comet cleaner and an intriguing little book called Old-Time Pickling and Spicing Recipes.

Long story short, I won't need to buy any stamps for...forever?

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Jealous! We send a ton of Christmas cards so I can really appreciate that!

Only ate lunch out once this week, and it was with good friends and a restaurant I really enjoy (ramen). I said no to Starbucks afterwards.

I've got a $27 ebates cheque on its way to me and referred a friend for another $5 (at the next payback).

DH suggested takeout tonight and I declined. We're having a delicious pork ragu over penne (made a huge batch in the slow cooker last week) and I am excited to open up my weekend bottle of wine tonight.

Going to a kids' bday party this weekend (joint party for siblings), and I'm proud of myself for sticking to my $15 budget per kid. When their gifts arrived from amazon I almost placed another order for a book because I felt cheap, but I reminded myself that these kids have EVERYTHING and there will be 50+ guests at this party, my friend loves me and not what I buy her kids, and we were invited there to celebrate and not to spoil her kids.

Accepted an offer to upgrade my credit card to one that gives triple rewards points (PC MasterCard World Elite) with still no annual fee. I already get $20 worth of free groceries about every 6 weeks with my original card, so I'm really excited to see that triple!

My friend offered me my pick of jewelry as a thank you offering, but that's not my thing. I did take about 400 Forever stamps, two fire extinguishers, some packing tape, two cans of Comet cleaner and an intriguing little book called Old-Time Pickling and Spicing Recipes.

Long story short, I won't need to buy any stamps for...forever?

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I love the selection of things you chose, and what a great deal on the stamps.

My friend offered me my pick of jewelry as a thank you offering, but that's not my thing. I did take about 400 Forever stamps, two fire extinguishers, some packing tape, two cans of Comet cleaner and an intriguing little book called Old-Time Pickling and Spicing Recipes.

Long story short, I won't need to buy any stamps for...forever?

I had to Google Forever stamps (we don't have them here). What a brilliant idea. I would stock up if that was an option here; I'm forever sending birthday cards, letters to grandparents, Christmas cards, etc.

For myself today, I ate the nice lunch my wife made last night. I just put it in my lunchbag this morning as usual and went off to work. The ingredients are: home made cornbread, ham and cheese bought at discount from the local deli. They sell the 'ends' of the cheese and meats for $1.58/lb. Every time I go there I ask if they have any ends, and they scoop them all up and weigh them and I get several pounds of a huge variety of meats and cheeses that I would otherwise never buy, really pricey stuff. My only regret is that I have no idea which brands or, sometimes even what variety I am eating.For dessert I had home-made yogurt mixed with home-made wild plum jam. I picked and cooked the jam up a few months ago, and we have about a gallon left in the freezer.My veggies were home-grown lettuce and carrots. My fruit was an apple, bought for 20 cents.This is pretty typical of my daily lunch.

Workingtounwind -- Cook with your coconut oil :-) Any baked goods taste great with coconut oil in lieu of butter or oil. Last night I made sweet potato oven fries in coconut oil. Use it as a moisturizer for dry skin -- feels and smells fantastic.

We walked to the grocery store in a light drizzle, shopped local, walked home.

Ate leftovers for lunch.

I saved $20 by cutting my husband's hair for the second time ever. Slowly getting the hang of it, and he's happy.

(We have a hairdresser within walking distance of our apartment but I refuse to go there. The first and last time I had my hair cut there, the snotty hairdresser asked, 'Have you ever coloured your hair?' 'No.' 'Do you think maybe you should?' I have dark hair that develops natural highlights from the sun. My father is 57 and doesn't have a single grey hair on his head. There are things about my appearance I don't like, but I have no issue whatsoever with my hair colour. I like the fact that I don't feel compelled to dye it, it saves me a fortune. The fact that some walking bottle of blonde dye tried to upsell me into unnecessary treatments pissed me right off. I haven't been back since.)

We walked to the grocery store in a light drizzle, shopped local, walked home.

Ate leftovers for lunch.

I saved $20 by cutting my husband's hair for the second time ever. Slowly getting the hang of it, and he's happy.

(We have a hairdresser within walking distance of our apartment but I refuse to go there. The first and last time I had my hair cut there, the snotty hairdresser asked, 'Have you ever coloured your hair?' 'No.' 'Do you think maybe you should?' I have dark hair that develops natural highlights from the sun. My father is 57 and doesn't have a single grey hair on his head. There are things about my appearance I don't like, but I have no issue whatsoever with my hair colour. I like the fact that I don't feel compelled to dye it, it saves me a fortune. The fact that some walking bottle of blonde dye tried to upsell me into unnecessary treatments pissed me right off. I haven't been back since.)

What a mean spirited person! Holy cow. Not good advertising, right there.

That tallies up with when I was growing my henna out. I went in to get a consult pre-wedding to see if the henna had faded and grown out enough for my hair to hold dye for my wedding. The hair dresser I was going to meet was being nice, did a strand test, but the color wouldn't hold. Mind you, it's not like my hair turned green and fell off. It just wouldn't absorb the dye. When she left to do something, I heard two other hairdressers talking about how "only an idiot would think they could dye their hair after henna".

Saves money though, right?

My savings: taking leftovers for work. Being satisfied with my scrub collection (I only have 3 sets, and it's easy to get bored. No advantage to more sets though).

Removed a couple items from subscribe and save that I found better deals on elsewhere. Follow through! It's important, but so hard sometimes.

Was bored yesterday, wanted to go somewhere and do something. Carpooled with DH to his campus while he met a group for a project. I sat in a coffee shop and read while watching a wind storm. No extra gas, different part of the city. Great entertainment and change of scenery for $2, which is cheap if it saved me from going shopping or to a meal somewhere.

Last night the girlfriend and I went out to a nice dinner. But we went to a place that she had a gift card for ($25 off) so our combined cost, with tip, was $37 for a meal that was pretty damned good. \o/Also, the portions were enormous so it will also be my lunch today!

We walked to the grocery store in a light drizzle, shopped local, walked home.

Ate leftovers for lunch.

I saved $20 by cutting my husband's hair for the second time ever. Slowly getting the hang of it, and he's happy.

(We have a hairdresser within walking distance of our apartment but I refuse to go there. The first and last time I had my hair cut there, the snotty hairdresser asked, 'Have you ever coloured your hair?' 'No.' 'Do you think maybe you should?' I have dark hair that develops natural highlights from the sun. My father is 57 and doesn't have a single grey hair on his head. There are things about my appearance I don't like, but I have no issue whatsoever with my hair colour. I like the fact that I don't feel compelled to dye it, it saves me a fortune. The fact that some walking bottle of blonde dye tried to upsell me into unnecessary treatments pissed me right off. I haven't been back since.)

What a mean spirited person! Holy cow. Not good advertising, right there.

That tallies up with when I was growing my henna out. I went in to get a consult pre-wedding to see if the henna had faded and grown out enough for my hair to hold dye for my wedding. The hair dresser I was going to meet was being nice, did a strand test, but the color wouldn't hold. Mind you, it's not like my hair turned green and fell off. It just wouldn't absorb the dye. When she left to do something, I heard two other hairdressers talking about how "only an idiot would think they could dye their hair after henna".

Saves money though, right?

Don't you just love that? I've gotten hassle a few times for letting my light, ashy brown hair go natural, and once was told (with a sniff), "How unusual." I get to be the odd one out for not dying my hair (usually) blond for fear of the dreaded "mousey" look. If more people with this color let their hair alone, maybe it wouldn't be considered mousey.

Cut a stack of printer mistakes into grocery list size pieces and and left them on the corner of my desk.

Another option if there's only printing on 1 side: flip 'em over and put them back into the printer. We've now got a printer that prints double-sided, but we still save 1-sided prints (and even sometimes 1-sided junk mail) to re-run. That's the only thing I miss about working in an office: I used to come home with reams of free, half-used paper.

One we've been doing every today for months: using ice packs to keep an old, dying microwave in play. The thing was never very good to begin with, and has recently tended to overheat after a few minutes and shut itself off. We don't want to buy a new one before moving (and are hoping our next apartment might come with one), so we've been keeping it alive by covering the top with ice packs when in use. (I'd ditch it entirely for a while, but husband would go fetal.)

We walked to the grocery store in a light drizzle, shopped local, walked home.

Ate leftovers for lunch.

I saved $20 by cutting my husband's hair for the second time ever. Slowly getting the hang of it, and he's happy.

(We have a hairdresser within walking distance of our apartment but I refuse to go there. The first and last time I had my hair cut there, the snotty hairdresser asked, 'Have you ever coloured your hair?' 'No.' 'Do you think maybe you should?' I have dark hair that develops natural highlights from the sun. My father is 57 and doesn't have a single grey hair on his head. There are things about my appearance I don't like, but I have no issue whatsoever with my hair colour. I like the fact that I don't feel compelled to dye it, it saves me a fortune. The fact that some walking bottle of blonde dye tried to upsell me into unnecessary treatments pissed me right off. I haven't been back since.)

What a mean spirited person! Holy cow. Not good advertising, right there.

That tallies up with when I was growing my henna out. I went in to get a consult pre-wedding to see if the henna had faded and grown out enough for my hair to hold dye for my wedding. The hair dresser I was going to meet was being nice, did a strand test, but the color wouldn't hold. Mind you, it's not like my hair turned green and fell off. It just wouldn't absorb the dye. When she left to do something, I heard two other hairdressers talking about how "only an idiot would think they could dye their hair after henna".

Saves money though, right?

Don't you just love that? I've gotten hassle a few times for letting my light, ashy brown hair go natural, and once was told (with a sniff), "How unusual." I get to be the odd one out for not dying my hair (usually) blond for fear of the dreaded "mousey" look. If more people with this color let their hair alone, maybe it wouldn't be considered mousey.

Oh, the sniff!

My mother-in-law once popped into boutique while killing time, wearing a tiered skirt and tank top (this was a couple of years ago). The shop assistant greeted her with a sniff and "uh, fashions have changed!" :0